PRESS RELEASE
June 29, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                            

Two Solo Exhibits, by Ben Brandt  & by Ben Marcus, Open July 14, 2007,    7- 10pm.

Chicago: July 14th, 2007, the Caro d’Offay Gallery will host an opening reception for Ben Brandt’s solo exhibition of mixed media installations entitled Everything Always Intersecting in Gallery A, and the continued exhibition of graphite drawings on paper by Benjamin Marcus in Gallery B. This event will be held during the Wicker Part/Bucktown Second Saturdays Art-walk.  Caro d'Offay Gallery is located at 2204 West North Avenue in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood and is open Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday from 1-6 P.M.; viewings are also available by appointment.
Brandt’s exhibition Everything Always Intersecting explores the complex relationships between both internal and external aspects of mankind and the surrounding environment, through a combination of painting and sculpture.  The work includes both architectural and organic elements that become unified, as the artist has interpreted their relationship from a much larger context.  Through a process of manipulating and rearranging physical matter like paint and wood, Brandt is exploring the changing nature of the object as it develops in relation to himself, as well as to the environment. The work itself becomes a kind of abstract psychological narrative.
In the back gallery, Benjamin Marcus reveals his graphite drawings that explore the limitations of abstract versus representational techniques. By utilizing the tools that are normally attached to representational narrative work such as composition, subject matter and stunning marksmanship, Marcus draws his viewers in. As one stands before the work, time slows down and the gravity of the work forces the viewer to confront the absolute present. These beautifully constructed scenes of foreign places, animals and strange persons do not attest to past or future; they call attention to the time and place of observation itself.
The gallery invites you to experience these two solo exhibits  (two very different forms of visual narrative) by Benjamin Marcus and by Ben Brandt, as they come together in one space to share the common denominator of exploring the abstract nature of narrative.

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